One of England’s most senior police chiefs has called for an end to the war on drugs.

Durham Chief Constable Mike Barton said all drugs, including heroin and cocaine, should be decriminalised and made available through the NHS – destroying the power base and income of criminal gangs.

Mr Barton acknowledged drugs were ‘bad’ but compared the current policy to the prohibition of alcohol in 1920s America that gave rise to Al Capone and the mafia.

He said efforts to reduce illicit drugs had ‘comprehensively failed’ and the effect of criminalisation of the trade had been to put millions of pounds into the pockets of criminals.

Reform: Durham Chief Constable Mike Barton has urged for a rethink in the way drugs are policed, comparing our current laws to 1920's American prohibition

He said last night: ‘If an addict were able to access drugs via the NHS or something similar, then they would not have to go out and buy illegal drugs. Buying or being treated with, say, diamorphine [heroin] is cheap. It’s cheap to produce it therapeutically.

‘Not all crime gangs raise income through selling drugs, but most of them do in my experience. So offering an alternative route of supply to users cuts their income stream off. Drugs should be controlled. They should not, of course, be freely available.

‘I think addiction to anything – drugs, alcohol, gambling, etc – is not a good thing, but outright prohibition hands revenue streams to villains. Since 1971 [the Misuse of Drugs Act], prohibition has put billions into the hands of villains who sell adulterated drugs on the streets.

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‘In my force area we have 43 organised crime groups on our radar. Most have their primary source of income in illicit drug supply, all of them are involved in some way.

‘These criminals are often local heroes and role models for young people who covet their wealth. ‘Decriminalising their commodity will immediately cut off their income stream and destroy their power,’ Mr Barton said in an article in today’s Observer.

‘Have we not learned the lessons of prohibition in history? The Mob’s sinister rise to prominence in the US was pretty much funded through its supply of a prohibited drug – alcohol. That’s arguably what we are doing in the UK.’

Access: Chief Constable Barton called for cocaine to be made available on the NHS, saying that the criminalisation of drugs like it has put millions of pounds into the hands of criminals (file picture)

Mr Barton, an experienced crimefighter who was appointed to the chief constable post earlier this year after serving as assistant, said addicts should be treated rather than criminalised.

He said: ‘If you started to give a heroin addict the drug therapeutically, then we would not have the scourge of hepatitis C and Aids spreading among needle users, for instance. I am calling for a controlled environment, not a free-for-all.’

He is not the first chief constable to call for a change in drug policy.

In 2010, Tim Hollis, chief constable of Humberside police, said the criminal justice system could offer only a ‘limited’ solution to the scourge of drugs.